There are so many ways to get lost when trying to decide which real estate investment strategy to use. Should you invest in short sales, note sales, or flips? Should you invest for cash flow or appreciation? Do you invest in your home town or nationally? Trying to decide where to start can be difficult and confusing.
Every day there is another infomercial on the television or another seminar coming to your town touting the latest, greatest real estate investment strategy for you to use to make millions by investing the way they do. With all the options out there, how do you decide which real estate investment strategy to use in your business?
If you’re like most investors getting started, you find a real estate investment strategy that sounds good and give it a try. If you make a little money, you try it again. If you didn’t make money with that strategy, you look for another one that “works.” The other one has to be easier, right? You go from one technique to another until you find one that “works” and that is where you decide to focus your attention.
You make a little money and you start repeating it over and over again until you have a ton of projects going on. You’re finally making some good money but you’re exhausted and your family life has suffered. You can’t stop because if you do the money won’t come in, but you’re not happy. Why is this and what can you do about it?
I’m going to ask you to do something a little radical and forget about real estate and investing for a minute. I’m suggesting you taking a step back from real estate investing and take a look at your life. Have you ever asked yourself what type of life do you want to have? What do you want it to look like? What if you had asked yourself these questions before you picked your investing strategy? Would it fit with the life you want?
For example, what do you want your day to look like? Do you want your income to come in big chunks or monthly payments? Do you want employees or do you want to go it your own? These are just a few questions to get you started.
You see, it makes less difference which strategy you use. How you get there is much less important to me than what you want it to look like when you get there. Whatever strategy you pick can make money if you master it. However, by just picking randomly you might not be happy even when you achieve financial success. It may even make you miserable if your vision for what you want your life to look like and your reality are in conflict.
Let me suggest another way to get started in real estate investing. The first thing you need to do is get a clear vision of what you want success to look like for you. Ask yourself what kind of life you want to have. Once you have that vision in your head it makes deciding on everything else much, much easier. Now you have a purpose and a vision for your business. You can quickly eliminate options by asking yourself, how does this fit into what I want my future to look like? If it fits, consider it. If not, don’t waste any more time on it.
When you take action that fits into your vision of your future, you are taking control of your life and business. You’ll have a clear idea of what you should do and why and you will be much happier. Your clear vision will allow you to wade through the hype and confusion that can present itself when there are too many options and it will help you narrow them down to the ones that really fit in your life.
I can tell you a little secret. All real estate investment strategies work when used in the right situation, and if you are an expert at them. You can make money using all of them. That’s why it’s less about which ones you use and more about the desired result you want out of them. The strategies are just the tools to use to get you the life you want. So, design your life and then pick the strategies that will fit in with your vision.